Climate change is altering phenology; however, the magnitude of this change varies among taxa. Compared with phenological mismatch between plants and herbivores, synchronization due to climate has been less explored, despite its potential implications for trophic interactions. The earlier budburst induced by defoliation is a phenological strategy for plants against herbivores. Here, we tested whether warming can counteract defoliation-induced mismatch by increasing herbivore-plant phenological synchrony. We compared the larval phenology of spruce budworm and budburst in balsam fir, black spruce, and white spruce saplings subjected to defoliation in a controlled environment at temperatures of 12, 17, and 22°C. Budburst in defoliated saplings occurred 6-24 days earlier than in the controls, thus mismatching needle development from larval feeding. This mismatch decreased to only 3-7 days, however, when temperatures warmed by 5 and 10°C, leading to a resynchronization of the host with spruce budworm larvae. The increasing synchrony under warming counteracts the defoliation-induced mismatch, disrupting trophic interactions and energy flow between forest ecosystem and insect populations. Our results suggest that the predicted warming may improve food quality and provide better growth conditions for larval development, thus promoting longer or more intense insect outbreaks in the future.

中文翻译：

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变暖通过增加食草动物与植物物候的同步性来抵消落叶引起的不匹配。

气候变化正在改变物候；然而，这种变化的程度因类群而异。与植物和食草动物之间的物候不匹配相比，气候引起的同步性尽管对营养相互作用具有潜在影响，但对其研究较少。落叶引起的早期发芽是植物对抗食草动物的物候策略。在这里，我们测试了变暖是否可以通过增加食草动物-植物物候同步来抵消落叶引起的不匹配。我们比较了在 12、17 和 22°C 温度的受控环境中进行落叶的香脂冷杉、黑云杉和白云杉树苗中的云杉芽虫和发芽的幼虫物候。落叶树苗的发芽时间比对照早 6-24 天，因此幼虫取食导致的针发育不匹配。然而，当温度升高 5°C 和 10°C 时，这种不匹配减少到仅 3-7 天，导致宿主与云杉芽虫幼虫重新同步。变暖条件下日益增强的同步性抵消了落叶引起的不匹配，破坏了森林生态系统和昆虫种群之间的营养相互作用和能量流动。我们的结果表明，预测的变暖可能会改善食物质量，并为幼虫发育提供更好的生长条件，从而促进未来更长或更强烈的昆虫爆发。